Sasha Zouev

Geography I.B
The Relationship between Population and Food Supply
Introduction:
As countries are going through rapid population growth, many are still facing
negative growth. For this reason population policies are different for each countries own
demographic problems. n a more global scale, it is apparent that population is indeed
rising and there are many different views on how to deal with this problem. Growing
populations have serious conse!uences on the availability and use of resources available.
In this case study we will loo" at the une!ual food distribution and e#amine different
policies that are created towards helping control population growth$decline.
Who were Malthus and Boserup?
%everend &homas %obert 'althus wor"ed as an (nglish demographer and
political economist. )e is famous for his somewhat pessimistic but greatly influential
views. )e was born in February *+,, and lived until -ecember ./, *0/1. )e was
arguably the world2s first professor of political economy.
(ster Boserup, born (ster Brgesen, lived as a -anish writer and more notably
economist who investigated agricultural and economic development. She was born in
*3*4 and lived until September .1, *333. In *3,5, she developed a theory that an
increase in population would stimulate technologists to increase food production, which
can be seen as !uiet an optimistic view on population growth.
What did he/she argue?
%obert 'althus e#pressed a somewhat pessimistic view over the dangers of over6
population and said that supply of food was the main limit. )e believed that the
population rises geometrically and food supply can only rise arithmetically 7because of
the availability of usable land8. Furthermore he added that 9laws: of nature say that
population can never increase past the food supplies to support it.
9;hec"s: limit the population increase, claimed 'althus. <reventive 7also called
negative8 chec"s are ways by which the civili=ation can opt to reduce human fertility> by
e#ample delaying marriages and not having se#ual intercourse. <ositive chec"s on the
other hand are ones that increase mortality, such as poor living standards, unhealthy
living, disease, war and famine.
In 'althus2s time, towns were heavily populated by heavy machinery and
malnutrition and widespread diseases were common. 9'isery ;hec"s: as 'althus called
them, included effects of famine, disease, war and such. 9?ice ;hec"s: was 'althus2s
way of saying that family planning could be dangerous as it could lead to promiscuity.
@ast but not least 9'oral %estrain ;hec"s: were ones that included delaying marriage
and avoiding se# 6 'althus highly recommended this.
'althus said that as long as land is available, there will be food enough to feed
the nation, but as the population increases so does demand for food. &his leads to
pressure to farm more and with poor cultivation and more marginal land. Beyond the
limit where land is used to its greatest e#tent over6cultivation and soil erosion occurs,
causing yet again another decline in food production. &his was called the law of
diminishing returns. At the time 'althus did not ta"e into account the fact that new
methods of food production will come out.
(sther Boserup essentially argued that 9necessity is the mother of invention:. She
based her ideas on research into land use systems, including e#tensive shifting cultivation
in the tropics to multiple cropping in Asia. According to her theory, as population
increases, agriculture will move into higher more advanced stages of e#tensiveness
through inventions and introduction of new farming ideas. Basically she was saying that
population growth will undoubtedly lead to development.
i!itations:
;ritics of 'althus often say his theory is Aust too simple. Shortages of food is
only of the many possible reasons for war, famine and such. 'ar#ists will say that in
reality, only the poor will be the ones to starve. Barl 'ar# claimed that the poverty will
come from poor distribution of the food 7which is the case in many places today8 and not
the physical limit. &he global community is not 9closed: as 'althus assumes it to be in
his theories, therefore even distribution is almost impossible to obtain. 'althus was also
highly incapable of predicting the vast and great innovations of the past century, ma"ing
it very possible to ma"e enough food to feed the world.
(sther Boserup2s ideas, similar to 'althus2s, were based on the assumption that
the community is 9closed:. %ealistically though, that is not the case because of
migration. &his made Boserup2s theory very hard to test. After all migration most
commonly occurs in over6populated areas in order to ease population pressure 7which
Boserup said leads to technologic progression8. Furthermore, Boserup admitted herself
that over6population can eventually lead to inappropriate farming which can damage the
land. Geographers even blame population growth for desertification in areas such as the
Sahel. &his is clear evidence that some areas do not support this e#tensive population
growth.
"onclusion:
&here is enough evidence to show that both the ideas of Boserup and 'althus
maybe be valid and correct at different scales. n a more general global scale, perhaps
'althus is the more accurate however on the other hand, in favour of Boserup,
governments are motivated by the growth, to further develop resources and meet demand.
I!portant #ocabulary:
Marginal landC @and which produces minimal yield and has a low carrying capacity. &his may be due to
poor !uality, over use, or a lac" of essential nutrients to support economic agricultural production
Optimum PopulationC number of people who receive the best standards of living when using available
resources and technology.
Law of Diminishing %eturnsC as inputs are added to the production function, a point is reached beyond
which yields do not increase but drop.
-esertificationC %eduction in agricultural capacity as once fertile land degrades into sterile, dry land.
;auses of this include overgra=ing, over6cropping or deforestation
<opulation ;eilingC theoretical ma#imum number of people that can be supported by the available
resources and levels of technology.
SourceC Chrispin, Jane. Population, Resources and Deelopment. !econd "dition. Collins "ducation.